Tiger basketball finishes season at regionals

Posted: March 7, 2013 - 1:00am

SNYDER — The Frenship Tigers played their final game of the 2012-13 season on Friday, falling to Trophy Club Byron Nelson 54-47 in the Region I-4A tournament.

At the beginning of the year, Frenship had to start fresh after losing five seniors who had accounted for 90 percent of its scoring the previous season. No one picked the Tigers to win the district championship.

But they did.

After that improbable feat, no one picked the Tigers to become bi-district and area champions.

But they did.

They did all that and more, advancing to the regional semifinals for the second consecutive year after a nine-year drought that lasted from 2003-12.

En route to their regional berth, the Tigers defeated Randall in the bi-district round, El Paso Andress in the area round and Canyon in the regional quarterfinals. In each game, the Tigers outscored their opponent in the fourth quarter, often by an overwhelming margin.

“These guys are just great heart, that’s kind of been the whole thing this year,” said Frenship coach Jason Dear. “They were out to prove a point, to let everybody know it wasn’t just the guys that we had last year. It’s our team and how we continue to build it year-in and year-out.”

Heart was the story of Frenship’s season. The more the Tigers were down in the fourth quarter, the better their play seemed to become. Even in their final game against Byron Nelson, the Tigers took control in the final period, outscoring Nelson 22-15. This time, though, the deficit was simply too large to overcome.

In the first quarter of Saturday’s game, the two teams spent more time testing each other than scoring, ending the period with Frenship down 8-4. Nelson exploded for 20 points in the second and consistently pressured the Frenship offense, limiting the Tigers to seven points.

Three of those points came on a near half-court shot from Hunter Hays at the buzzer. Hays’ shot put the Tiger supporters on their feet, but Frenship still went in to the locker room down 15.

Frenship entered the final period down 39-25 after Byron Nelson held serve in the third, but when the last minutes started ticking down, Frenship transformed into a team of well-oiled machines. Bradley Mitchell hit a three-pointer almost immediately. Not long after, the Tigers scored five quick points off of two steals to get the game within 10. The Tigers managed to get within six points, but the size and presence of Byron Nelson in the paint produced enough offense to hold off the final Tiger rally.

The statistics between the teams were mostly even, but Trophy Club’s primary advantage came through assists — it outgained the Tigers in that category 11-5, mostly through passes and quick shots under the hoop.

“The halftime speech didn’t really work this time,” Dear said. “If we would have gotten a few more boards, maybe a few more calls had gone our way, it could’ve been a different game.”

Bradley Mitchell led the Tigers with 14 points, but he was the only Tiger to break double digits. Lucas Schuster scored nine and Thomas Martinez added six.

Dear said he was pleased with the spirit his team showed all season, especially his seniors.

“The seniors are great kids, great leaders,” Dear said. “I’m so proud of those kids.

After their consecutive appearances in the regional tournament, the Tigers are quickly becoming a staple contender on the big stage. Coach Dear attributes that success to the caliber of players he gets from his district.

“These guys, it’s such an honor to coach these type of kids that we have out at Frenship,” Dear said. “It goes back to the parents and how they raise their kids and how good they are.”

The Tigers will now face the offseason, and again, Frenship will lose five seniors and its leading scorers. This time, though, the Tigers know that they can handle new leadership and that they can find new scorers to step up.

Even with what Frenship accomplished in 2012-13, some will still doubt the Tigers’ ability to repeat their success a third time.

That’s fine. Dear and his players have made a habit of turning doubters into believers.